Darkest before Dawn
by GlasgowPotter
Summary: Years after Breaking Dawn, Bella's cousin Lily is left without parents after a car accident which she managed to survive. Bella, instantly wants to protect Lily but, in doing so Bella is leading Lily to her demise.
1. Chapter 1

The tears finally overcame the numbness as, my back hit off the hard blue wall of my bedroom. My ears had heard the news but my mind just refused to believe them, up until that moment when I was alone. It only felt like moments ago, we were sitting in the car as, the heavy rain crashed against the outside of the car while we drove towards the house before the large truck appeared from nowhere. Everything from that moment was truly a blur but, one thing stuck in my head, going round and round. _I'm sorry miss Swan, your parents didn't make it. _I vaguely remember one of the nurses, trying to stop me from leaving the hospital but, I continued to run until I found myself sitting on the soft carpet in my bedroom.

"Lily"I heard Bella's panicked yell as the front door was thrown open

The sound of her footsteps running up the stairs even though she could have been silent was all that filled the silence as, I tried to hold my breath but, that wouldn't work against her, not with what she was. I couldn't hold in the sob before it escaped my mouth and that's when Bella appeared beside me.

"Everything is going to be okay, I've got you"she soothed as, she gently rocked me back and forth with her arms wrapped tightly around me

I heard no truth in those words, how could everything be okay, with my parents being gone. I would never see them again. I would never hear mom's soft singing as, she cooked dinner or laugh at dad's rubbish jokes. I just wanted it to be a bad dream and for me to wake up in the morning to have everything back to normal but, I knew that was never going to happen. We sat in complete silence after a while, when it felt like I had no tears left to cry and all that was left was exhaustion.

"Come on, you're not staying here alone"Bella sighed, pulling me to my feet

"I'm fine here"I cried

Bella, completely ignored me and quickly moved around the room picking up many items of clothing, placing them into the large bag that had hung behind my door. I watched her swiftly racing round the room before turning to face me.

"Alice, is outside"she told me as I heard a car pull up outside the house

"Bella, I don't want to go"I whispered

"It's for the best Lily, you know it'll hurt you to stay here"Bella replied while placing her hand softly onto my shoulder

Without saying a word, I slowly left my room with Bella following closely behind me. I knew if I hesitated any longer I would definitely stay so, I moved faster until I was standing outside on the driveway. Alice was instantly in front of me with a soft expression on her face before I was pulled into her arms tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Lily"she sighed

"Where is Carlisle?"I heard Bella ask as I pulled the back door of the car open and sat inside the warm car

"He's waiting at the house, Edward told him Lily might be injured"Alice replied

"She's not injured as far as I can see, just a few scratches"Bella replied while looking over her shoulder to me like she would see some new injury appear

"Well that's good, I suppose"Alice sighed while climbing into the driver's seat

Nothing else was said, it was almost like they were scared to speak in front of me like it would cause me to breakdown again. There was the light hum of the radio in the background as, I stared aimlessly out the window as, I watched the surroundings change. I only lived half an hour away from where the Cullen's lived but, there was a huge difference in environment. Their house was surrounded by trees and hardly any city whereas I lived right in the middle of a busy town. I hadn't noticed that the car had stopped and we had pulled up outside the large Cullen house until Bella was beside me, shaking my shoulder roughly without hurting me.

"Lils, we're here"she exclaimed, once I had finally snapped out my thought

Almost, like she believed that I was going to run even though she could easily stop me, she held onto my arm as, we walked towards the front door. Alice, had already went ahead and was waiting at the door with Esme at her side. Bella let go of my arm once we had reached the door only for Esme to somberly wrap her arms round me. I knew Esme was only trying to show comfort to me but, all I wanted at that moment was to be left alone.

"You need some rest, dear. Do you want me to show you to the spare room"Esme asked as she guided me into the house

To be truthful, that seemed like the most amazing thing in the world. Just to be by myself and to have no one giving me those sympathetic hugs or looks. I nodded my head and followed Esme up the wooden steps. That house was almost like one you'd expect to only know about from movies. The large upstairs hall split into many door which I assumed were everyone's rooms. Esme opened the door at the far end, motioning me to follow her. The room was lovely, the walls a soft pink and the carpet a light cream. In the centre of the room sat the large bed which was the most inviting thing in the world.

"Everyone is downstairs if you need anything"she reminded me before turning to leave the room

"Thanks"I replied barely over a whisper but I knew she heard it


	2. Chapter 2

Bella's Pov

"Bella"Edward warned for the fourth time as I slowly crept towards the room door

It hurt so much to hear Lily's quiet sobs from behind the door and what made it worse was the fact that she was trying to hide it from us. I just wanted to wrap my arms around her tightly and make her tears stop falling.

"She just wants to be alone right now"Edward sighed as he wrapped his arms round me from behind and rested his head on my shoulder

"I know but I feel like I should be doing something"I mumbled

"Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie are on their way home Jasper may be able to help calm her alittle"he told me while leading me down the stairs away from Lily

I felt slightly relieved after hearing that new because Jasper and Rachel had always shared a close connection from the first time they met. No matter how many times we asked Jasper to explain it, he couldn't find words to describe it but said they weren't to be mates. Breaking me from my thought, Jasper came rushing into the room closely followed by Emmett and Rosalie.

"Why is no one with her?"Jasper exclaimed

"She wanted to be left alone, she wouldn't have talked to anyone if we'd tried"Edward told him

JASPER'S POV

The second I opened the room door, Lily's emotions hit me like a brick causing me to flinch. She was sat in the middle of the large bed with her hands covering her face while she sobbed quietly. She knew I was there since I had been deliberately making simple noise so not to frighten her. Slowly, I sat down on the bed beside her and before I new it, she had spun round and was crying into my chest. Doing the best I could to calm her, I softly rubbed her back while playing with a curl of her black hair.

"They didn't deserve this"she whimpered into my shoulder

"I know, I know"I hushed

"I never said goodbye, I just ran. I should have said goodbye to them"Lily cried, her hands clutching onto my shirt in fists as if her life depended on it.

"Lily it's best you remember them as they were not as they were after the accident"I tried to reason with her.

"I just left them there, cold and alone"she exclaimed, looking me in the eyes with nothing but regret.

"Darling, stop it"I told her softly while wiping the few tears that were running down her cheeks away.

Deciding that if she was awake any longer she would just continue to hurt herself with her thoughts, I carefully laid her head against the pillow while making her as calm as possible. I watched her bloodshot eyes growing heavy before they finally drifted closed and her steady breathing filled the air. As gentle as I could, I placed a blanket over her sleeping body and left the room being sure to make no noise. My family were in complete silence and all their eyes watched me as I entered the large living room.

"She's sleeping"I informed them even though they already knew

"Do you think we should let her see them?"Bella asked

"I don't think that would help her, I called the hospital when you were on your way to Lily's house and they said that her parents received a lot of visible injuries"Carlisle sighed

"Don't you think it's rather strange that Lily made it out of the accident without any major injuries?"Rosalie suggested

"That doesn't matter, we should be glad that she didn't get any injuries"Esme told her

I could tell by the emotions coming from each of my family that they were all deep in thought about what Rosalie had said, even I couldn't help questioning it. If the accident had enough force to injure her parents bad enough that it resulted in their deaths, how could Lily escape with barely a scratch. Don't mistake me, I more than glad she wasn't injured but it was all just slightly impossible.


End file.
